Digital vs Physical + Piracy vs Preservation discussion

[sunofpearl89]

I believe in financially rewarding people who offer something of value to me. I pirate games when there's dumb things getting in between me and what I want, like some intrusive DRM, or a delisting. If they won't accept money for it, I won't give it to them.

I pirated PowerSlave for Sega Saturn because there's no way to legally own it without giving your money to greedy middlemen on eBay. When Nightdive released the remastered port on Steam, I bought it day one at full price.

Meanwhile, I bought Mass Effect: Legendary Edition on Steam when it released, and I regret it. Pirates get a much better experience with that game than the suckers who gave EA their money, like any game that has that dumb EA launcher.

Some people have a very cavalier attitude towards piracy, as in they pirate everything, even if they can pay for it. I don't do this myself, but I'm no narc. I can't blame anyone for it, especially when I made the mistake of giving EA my money. Gross.

 

[Dai]

I used to buy all of my games, but nowadays i need to know if i like a game before deciding on a purchase, and most games don't offer demos, so a bit of what big corporations call piracy is needed every now and then.

 

[dropsmegamega]

I am always pirating these abandonware games and films, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it??????

But I don't bother pirating new games because if its a very good game I want to use my friends copy for steam achievements support it and if not I won't bother DL'ing 100+gb for a mid game when I have a backlog with hundreds of better games

 

[RageBurner]

The backlog is eternal.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Morally correct on discontinued hardware or Abandoned/removed games

A dick move on fresh games, games from small developers or AAA that did it right

 

[Clippy]

Friendly reminder that piracy not only doesn't thwart profits (since people who wouldn't be able to pirate wouldn't buy anyway) but can in fact boost sales via word of mouth and so on. There's a study conducted by the EU that proves this and the only reason we actually have said study is because the German Party of Pirates wouldn't let it get buried by the corrupt eurocrat bastards. I'll attach it for anyone who's bored enough to give it a read. I won't since the file is too large apparently. Google EU piracy displacement study and I'm sure you'll find it.

Other than that, if you can support a game dev who made a game you like, do so! Spread the word too! They won't be able to make more games otherwise.

 

[Teone]

I'd say:

Morally correct to use "pirated" roms if you are unable to access that work without it jeopardizing your economic survival, it doesn't matter where or who that work comes from.

Bad* if you are using it to generate profit at the expense of other people's work (*depending on your socialeconomic conditions and the one from the "damaged" part, since most big companies make their profit from the exploitation of underpaid employees).

 

[nonotz]

Friendly reminder that piracy not only doesn't thwart profits (since people who wouldn't be able to pirate wouldn't buy anyway) but can in fact boost sales via word of mouth and so on. There's a study conducted by the EU that proves this and the only reason we actually have said study is because the German Party of Pirates wouldn't let it get buried by the corrupt eurocrat bastards. I'll attach it for anyone who's bored enough to give it a read. I won't since the file is too large apparently. Google EU piracy displacement study and I'm sure you'll find it.

Other than that, if you can support a game dev who made a game you like, do so! Spread the word too! They won't be able to make more games otherwise.

i searched and prob this ?

EU study finds piracy doesn’t hurt game sales, may actually help

Results suggest a positive effect, but there’s a huge margin of error.

arstechnica.com

there is a link for the actual 300+ pages pdf there

 

[ThirdEidolon]

87 percent of video-game media prior to 2010 is no longer accessible commercially.

You can not buy it outside of private sellers.

This is a serious problem that I wish would be addressed.

 

[Clippy]

87 percent of video-game media prior to 2010 is no longer accessible commercially.

You can not buy it outside of private sellers.

This is a serious problem that I wish would be addressed.

If recent news is anything to go by then shooting responsible CEOs is an effective method apparently.

 

[Leon]

People still use winrar?
7-zip is better.
Unless your living in a bubble, piracy is not only not a moral wrong, i'd argue that piracy is necessary in this day and age just to experience things without some form of censorship or as it was originally intended to be viewed/played/listened to.

Think about this, ever seen the original version of star wars the empire strikes back before lucas "made it better"?
Unless your 40 or you pirate, you probably haven't, because it was only on VHS and never released on dvd and obviously isn't on streaming.
I'd have never been able to play the super robot wars series, or ys 5 for that matter, without piracy.

Friendly reminder that piracy not only doesn't thwart profits (since people who wouldn't be able to pirate wouldn't buy anyway) but can in fact boost sales via word of mouth and so on. There's a study conducted by the EU that proves this and the only reason we actually have said study is because the German Party of Pirates wouldn't let it get buried by the corrupt eurocrat bastards. I'll attach it for anyone who's bored enough to give it a read. I won't since the file is too large apparently. Google EU piracy displacement study and I'm sure you'll find it.

Other than that, if you can support a game dev who made a game you like, do so! Spread the word too! They won't be able to make more games otherwise.

One thing your reminder forgot to mention, is that alot of people who pirate literally cannot afford to buy the game even if they wanted to, when your choices are between food and a paying for game, most people are gonna pick food.
I've been in that position, if i'm so broke that i have to choose between keeping power, a roof over my head and food on my plate, there's no way i cannot see that as a justifiable reason to pirate, since we all need our cooldown period.

 

[Clippy]

One thing your reminder forgot to mention, is that alot of people who pirate literally cannot afford to buy the game even if they wanted to, when your choices are between food and a paying for game, most people are gonna pick food.

I figured that saying 'people who wouldn't be able to pirate wouldn't buy anyway' was enough to cover that. To some people it may not be obvious but video games are a luxury good if you think about it. If you can't afford them than that's all there is to it.

Publishers who keep insisting on piracy being evil and a loss of profit need to learn that if you can't afford to give them money then it doesn't really matter if you play the game or not. You have no money to give them. But you can tell your friends about a great game you discovered and they might buy it. Or they could get a copy from you but shhhh about that.

 

[Godhand1999]

Pirating is good. It offers me the ability to play games that either aren't in my region or for some reason isn't available for me to play. It's a good service, if game companies cared more about game preservation and or adding QoL features to some of their "remasters"? I wouldn't be pirating, but here we are.

 

[JIGENBAKUDAN]

hold off your horses, Luffy... not that kind of pirating

View attachment 3566
i mean about software / games / movies / music /others piracy
where do you draw the line ?

do you paid that winrar that you used for 10+ years?
are you cruising the high seas of torrents ?
do you only support indie devs?
do you purchase everything legally and pirates nothing?
what do you do with items not available in your area? or no longer supported (e.g. retro games)

feel free to ramble below but please respect others' opinion

I would only pirate games if it's from a game console no longer being manufactured in the modern day. I would say from Atari 2600 to the Nintendo Wii is where I draw the line. The Nintendo Switch is too recent to do such a thing, I'd wait till 2030. It honestly depends for me when it comes to movies, it's hard to explain. I'd like to get into torrenting just to watch some niche anime I can't find on the typical places people watch anime from but I'm nervous of the consequences that might come from it. I just want to watch Croket! and GameCenter CX for crying out loud!

 

[TheLastDeadman]

My take has always been that I don't care. I'm not nosey enough to stick my nose where it doesn't belong. However what greatly annoys me is the people trying to argue for Pirating or Emulation in the name of "Preservation". Now don't get me wrong there are people who genuinely do this. However the other 99% out there are doing it for the exact same reason I do it: We all want to play games for free. My annoyance is how many people try to paint it as preservation instead of just being honest, like they're embarrassed to just admit they crack open an emulator to play pokemon like the rest of us. Or more then likely want to perceive themselves as I dunno Morally right on the internet or something dumb. Otherwise though, I don't really care. I pirate alot of stuff mostly mobile games and other games that you can't legally get, or if a new translation comes out.

 

[glokglakglak]

always have been, always will be
this has been the way of the internet ever since, and it will never change
if i'm given the choice between paying to get something, and getting the same thing for free, i will always choose the free one

although there are legitimate reasons for preserving reeeeeeeeeeally obscure games that were lost to time and no one has access to them anymore
i really hate losing a piece of history (yeah the library of alexandria hit me hard)

 

[JIGENBAKUDAN]

My take has always been that I don't care. I'm not nosey enough to stick my nose where it doesn't belong. However what greatly annoys me is the people trying to argue for Pirating or Emulation in the name of "Preservation". Now don't get me wrong there are people who genuinely do this. However the other 99% out there are doing it for the exact same reason I do it: We all want to play games for free. My annoyance is how many people try to paint it as preservation instead of just being honest, like they're embarrassed to just admit they crack open an emulator to play pokemon like the rest of us. Or more then likely want to perceive themselves as I dunno Morally right on the internet or something dumb. Otherwise though, I don't really care. I pirate alot of stuff mostly mobile games and other games that you can't legally get, or if a new translation comes out.

The only preservation I approve of if it's a unreleased, cancelled, or a beta game. I emulate because retro game prices nowadays are complete bogus.

 

[ThirdEidolon]

If recent news is anything to go by then shooting responsible CEOs is an effective method apparently.

Luigi is on the loose. No longer satisfied to live in Mario's shadow any longer.

Post automatically merged: Dec 10, 2024

People still use winrar?
7-zip is better.
Unless your living in a bubble, piracy is not only not a moral wrong, i'd argue that piracy is necessary in this day and age just to experience things without some form of censorship or as it was originally intended to be viewed/played/listened to.

Think about this, ever seen the original version of star wars the empire strikes back before lucas "made it better"?
Unless your 40 or you pirate, you probably haven't, because it was only on VHS and never released on dvd and obviously isn't on streaming.
I'd have never been able to play the super robot wars series, or ys 5 for that matter, without piracy.

One thing your reminder forgot to mention, is that alot of people who pirate literally cannot afford to buy the game even if they wanted to, when your choices are between food and a paying for game, most people are gonna pick food.
I've been in that position, if i'm so broke that i have to choose between keeping power, a roof over my head and food on my plate, there's no way i cannot see that as a justifiable reason to pirate, since we all need our cooldown period.

Piracy is the only answer to media preservation at this point and they're still trying to kill the IA.

 

[drizzes]

I primarily pirate from older-than-modern generations. The kinds of things I either owned in the past but no longer possess the hardware to play, or things I never got to experience and now have the chance only with emulating.

of course, sometimes it's not so simple, and I won't deny emulating some switch titles because it's just... cheaper to do that than shell out the money.

 

[BigTony]

Im overall pretty indifferent towards it but i think people that are super into it are lame like ive met guys that brag about how many games they pirate as if their making some sort of profound political statement. If a game is too expensive or published by a conpany I dont want to financially support like sega or capcom ill usually pirate it.

 

[Leon]

I forgot to mention this in my first post, but i'm also EXTREMELY anti-DRM, while i can tolerate steamworks (though i usually buy from gog to avoid this when i can), but when it comes to denuvo, starforce etc, any of those drm's that count as renting a game for full price i put my foot down and see no moral wrong with pirating a game or buying it used if need be under such situations, hey if the game isn't mine to own, then i guess they can't complain if i pirate it do they?

 

[ZEGA ZONIC]

Pirating a game is good, cause if you can't get physically, you can get it from the internet. (For free.)

 

[TheLastDeadman]

although there are legitimate reasons for preserving reeeeeeeeeeally obscure games that were lost to time and no one has access to them anymore
i really hate losing a piece of history (yeah the library of alexandria hit me hard)

I get that, I've saved a few things myself, mostly things I've had to patch or work to get working, its just the annoyance of people MOSTLY claiming emulation is an act of preservation, instead of just being honest and saying they want free games. Cause you can bet your ass I'm not gonna guy buy an old ass game (Unless I just can't find it online...that happened once or twice) that I might lose interest in after an Hour, but I'm not gonna pretend I'm doing this all for the sake of preservation, I'm doing it cause I'm cheap.

That said I do have limits to it, per say. I'll purchase PS2 and PS3 games cause I feel thats like the cut off time. Mostly cause I'm nostalgic for my PS2. I could emulate it and I do for translations, but my PC is also a potato so I don't do much above a PS2 (DS and 1 or 2 3DS is like my limit.)

 

[kamille]

the more something costs the happier i am pirating it. most game developers actively hate gamers these days anyway so why even bother giving any money to them. unless of course the game is something that's actually good and has a vision and soul. and the developers and marketing keep their mouth shut and don't scream about their views on how they think their target audience is human garbage.

 

[nonotz]

the more something costs the happier i am pirating it. most game developers actively hate gamers these days anyway so why even bother giving any money to them. unless of course the game is something that's actually good and has a vision and soul. and the developers and marketing keep their mouth shut and don't scream about their views on how they think their target audience is human garbage.

there are a lot of indie devs now that actually listen to their fans
example is stardew valley. when fans reported a game breaking bug such as save state issue he quickly address the issue via update